British artist Tracey Emin revealed she demanded the return to David Cameron of an artwork that she had gifted her in 2011, in protest against the current government.
The 58-year-old artist told her 79,000 followers on Instagram that she’s asked for ‘More Passion’, a piece in her trademark neon style, to be removed from the Government Art Collection.
Emin, who was given the all-clear from bladder cancer last year, told her followers that she was no longer happy for her work to be associated with Boris Johnson’s party following weeks of allegations of Downing Street staff parties during lockdown.
“This is my neon, which hangs at 10, Downing Street,” she wrote. This was my gift to the Government Art Collection. Now I’m requesting the removal of my artwork from 10 Downing Street.
The red neon sign, which spells out ‘More Passion’ in glowing letters, was said to be worth £250,000 when it was made in 2010.
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Margate artist Tracey Emin informed her Instagram followers that on Wednesday she requested the return of the neon art ‘More Passion’ from the Government Art Collection
The current piece hangs at Downing StrOet. Emin, 58 said that while the situation is now shameful, she requested it be returned to her.
This artist rose to fame with the 1995 work “Everyone That I’ve Ever Sleeped With 1963-1995” and added, “I Feel More Passion is what this government needs.” The current state of affairs is shameful.
This coral pink sculpture is 112cm x 46cm. It’s listed as a sculpture at Artuk.org.
The Government Collection received it in 2011, when the coalition led by Nick Clegg and David Cameron, Prime Minister, came to power.
The Government Art Collection is officially housed in the Old Admiralty Building in central London but ex Prime Minister David Cameron – said to be a fan of the BritArt star – chose to hang the eye-catching piece outside the Terracotta Room on the first floor of the government headquarters.
David Cameron, pictured with wife Samantha Cameron entering Downing Street in 2010, was thought to be a fan of the BritArt artist and hung the neon work in Number 10’s Terracotta Room
When Emin first bestowed the piece, it ruffled Whitehall feathers, with one source telling the Sunday Mirror at the time: ‘It has the very definite effect of making the Terracotta Room look like a nightclub.
“It’s very bright. It is also brightened by the darkening of the hallway that it faces.
When the artist donated it she said the work had ‘to be something that will relate to different people on different levels because of all the dignitaries and world leaders and religious groups who go to No 10 so it has to be something that’s fitting for that situation.’
After discovering a tumor in her bladder, the 58-year old was diagnosed with bladder carcinoma in 2020. She had been working on an image of a malignant lump and discovered it while painting.
The neon signifying words of heartfelt messages such as “Keep Me Safe” and “I Promise To Love You”, are some other signatures.
Emin’s 2018 Annual Report The ‘anti-Brexit” neon art was displayed at London’s St Pancras Station in the shape of a 18-metre-long line of handwriting. It reads, “I want to spend my time with You” and hangs from the ceiling above the clock.
Emin was working in 2020 on an image of a malignant tumor and discovered it in her bladder.
Surgeons were concerned that the artist had very advanced squamous-cell cancer. If it reached her lymph nodes, surgeons would have to kill her within months.
Following her battle with bladder cancer in her early years, the artist said that she had learned to love rather than work.
It was decided that she would have her bladder removed along with her fallopian tubes and ovaries.
Before the surgery, she said that her lawyer rewrote her will for her. Then, she sent out an email to 70 of her friends informing them about the cancer news and asking them not to contact her.
Emma Barnett from BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour had previously revealed to her that recent scans have shown she’s clear of cancer. Now, she’s determined to enjoy life, despite chronic pain and the need for a stoma.
Highlights from Tracey Emin’s career
1995, Everybody I Have Ever Sleeped With 1963-1995: This was the first piece that brought Tracey Emin greater fame in both the art and the public realms.
1999, My Bed: The piece is Emin’s record of several days spent in bed in the grip of depression. The sheets and bed are unmade. You can see a range of objects scattered all around the place, such as condoms or contraceptive tablets, money and underwear stained by menstrual blood. In 1999, the Turner Prize was awarded to the work. It received mixed reactions from both the press and the public.
2001, The Perfect Place to Grow: This work pays homage to the artist’s Turkish Cypriot father who, she says, is a fantastic gardener but a terrible carpenter. The structure is a wood birdhouse, with wooden stilts.
2004, Hate and Power Can be a Terrible Thing: This appliquéd blanket work is a blistering attack Margaret Thatcher, and her participation in the Falklands War of 1982
2011, I Promise To Love You: In the 2000s, Emin began working extensively with neon lighting. Her handwriting is evident in these works. The neon sculpture, I Promise To Love you (2011).